Hold that Co-ed must have seemed at the time to be an innocuous little comedy about a Governor, Gabby Harrigan (John Barrymore), and his attempts to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. He does this, in typical 1930’s style, by buying the electorate. In this case, he uses the power of his […]
Chariots of Fire is a somewhat fictionalized account of the 1924 British Olympic track & field team, their struggles (both personal and professional) and how they navigated these difficulties to bring home glory.
The focus is on two members of the eventual team, Irish missionary Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) and the Jewish Cambridge man Harold Abrahams […]
Slap Shot is part of the great 1970s sports film tradition of showing the seedy underbelly of the sports world, this time through small-town hockey.
It stars Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, player/coach for the Charleston Chiefs, a minor league team that is down on its luck, as factory closings have diminished attendance. When he […]
On subsequent viewings, Nacho Libre comes off a lot better than it did on its first. Perhaps it was familiarity with the material, but I found myself constantly looking forward to particular moments, always a sign that a film is finding its way into my heart.
I still feel there was a lot of comedy […]
Caddyshack is one of the best sports films of all time. On the surface, it’s not that different from countless other sports underdog stories. The basic story of a young man trying to sort out his future through the unlikely route of sport is certainly not groundbreaking. But what seperates Caddyshack from […]
Okay, if you were reading this blog last year, you know that my favorite film for 2006 was Cars. I gave it a glowing review, saw it six times in the theater, awarded it just about every award I could possibly think of, bought it on DVD twice on Day 1 and have more […]
Viewed December 18, 2006
Herbie Fully Loaded picks up the story of the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own last seen on the big screen in 1980’s Herbie Goes Bananas. (There was also a 1997 TV remake/sequel of the original film, The Love Bug, that is not necessarily in continuity.)
Fully Loaded […]
Viewed November 3, 2006
Okay, so what the heck is the big deal about High School Musical? What should have been just a typical Disney Channel Original Movie burst onto the scene as a minor cultural phenomenon. The CD is the best-selling album of the year. The DVD sold like hotcakes (and there’s […]
Viewed November 2, 2006
Right off the bat, I thought it was funny that Disney put the song “Whistle While You Work” into Billposters. It’s obvious that even back then, Walt was interested in synergy and keeping the memory of Snow White alive in people’s minds. Unfortunately, except for that amusing inclusion, Billposters is […]
Viewed September 26, 2006
I’m beginning to understand why I came to like Donald so much. If these cartoons are any indication, he was much put upon. In The Hockey Champ, Huey Dewey and Louie (they’re becoming omnipresent, aren’t they?) once again torment Donald and get the best of him because of his temper. […]
Viewed September 17, 2006
Definitely the most dissapointing day of Donald cartoon watching so far, The Fox Hunt starts things off on the wrong foot with a poorly executed “comedic” fox hunt. Donald is again paired up with Goofy and, again, they spend most of the film apart from each other. Goofy is participating […]
Viewed June 24, 2006
Kid Speed is another entry featuring Oliver Hardy from his days languishing as a character actor, bouncing from film to film, usually in the role of the heavy. This one revolves around two racecar drivers, The Speed Kid (Larry Semon) and Dangerous Dan McGraw (Hardy). Not only do they compete […]
Viewed June 19, 2006
Okay, I pretty much watched Blackball (or “National Lampoon’s Blackball”, as the DVD states) because Vince Vaughn was in it. While I wasn’t that impressed with the last vaughn film that I saw, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), he’s usually rock solid. I fully expected this to be little […]
Viewed June 15, 2006
It’s hard to say what I made of The Sports Pages. Ostensibly, it is an anthology of sports-related stories. (If the intro by James Brown is any indication, they meant to make more.) The two stories presented here couldn’t be more different in their content and their attitude.
The first […]
Viewed June 9, 2006
Cars is Pixar’s return to pure family-friendly fare after the more grown-up focus of 2004’s The Incredibles. And for me at least, it was a happy return. While I enjoyed The Incredibles (I’ve watched it three times over the course of my recent Pixar-a-thon), I’ve always preferred the all-ages films.
Cars […]
Viewed April 15, 2006
Gidget is a cute little film and may just be the progenitor of the entire “beach” film genre. It tells the story of young Francis Lawrence (played by squeeky clean Sandra Dee). Unwilling to shamelessly chase boys like her friends, she becomes interested in surfing and is “adopted” by a […]